“Our presses were on break all morning, Count Christophe Pillon, director of the Normandie Roto printer, located in Lonrai near Alençon (Orne), one of the market leaders with its 25 million books printed per year. We were behind several media outlets, ready to launch printing in the event of Gallimard's victory. »
At 12:45 p.m., the announcement came: Houris by the Franco-Algerian author Kamel Daoud is crowned with Goncourt. “Ten minutes later, the machines running at full speed. » Although this year, “it’s a bit special”confesses the printer.
Normandie Roto did not publish the first copies of this novel evoking the “black decade” of Algeria (1992-2002) but, “probably because of technical ability”the publisher Gallimard contacted Christophe Pillon and his teams in advance to ensure the printing of half of the post-Goncourt orders. Result of the races: more than 100,000 copies will come out of the Ornais machines.
The machine ball, as soon as the winner is announced
Seven presses, including two digital, fill the 12,000 square meters of production spaces with odors mixed with hot paper, oiled machines and fresh inks. Around these gigantic machines, technicians with blocked ears whirl around without words, each at their post. One feeds the mechanical monsters with reels of immaculate paper; another checks sample pages, looking for “dirt” or from « maculages » ; a last one collects the thirteen notebooks of 32 pages which make up Houriscompressed before being linked. Further on, a rotary press spits out pages and pages of the famous red jacket bearing the “Prix Goncourt 2024” logo. Everything is soon ready for the first delivery truck: first departure at 5 a.m. sharp.
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